Astonishing X-Men: Ghost Boxes #2Review

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The real stakes of the Ghost Box and Subject X are revealed.

By Daniel Crown

Putting aside any residual complaints about the necessity of two sidebars for a headlining story which itself has stalled under delays, the second installment of Ghost Boxes is admittedly entertaining if you can get past its relative inconsequence. For the record I'm adamantly opposed to the book's hefty price tag. I also can't shake the feeling that this book, from its conception, has been nothing but an exploitative way to boost revenues during a lingering hiatus. But keeping that in mind, Ghost Boxes #2 is a nominal improvement over its predecessor, mostly due to a compelling second chapter, beautifully rendered by Kaare Andrews.

I won't spend too much time on the first chapter of Ghost Boxes #2, which in essence is nothing more than another take on Scott Summers' self-esteem issues. Summers' conflicting feelings about being a leader have been a staple for X-Men scribes for decades now, making the story immediately forgettable and mostly unnecessary.

Yet the second chapter, an X-Men variant of Cormac McCarthy's "The Road", is surprisingly compelling. Warren Ellis' quick hitting story does all of the things short stories need to do, casting its divergent world expediently in order to properly set the stakes for a rather disturbing climax.

I've heard the argument that Ghost Boxes should be looked at as a way for Marvel to make money off of an audition of sorts for aspiring or up and coming artists. If this is true, then Kaare Andrews makes good use of the opportunity. His artwork here easily trumps his work on Spider-Man Reign, casting the artist as one of the best in the business at drawing desolate future landscapes. The story readily transitions between wide-angle shots of black birds hovering over hardened clay and extreme close-ups of Ellis' leading characters, creating an extremely cinematic experience, which in a fair world would garner Andrews a few offers for more consequential gigs.

Again, Ghost Boxes may be unnecessary. It might also be exploitative (who really needs scripts for a throwaway book like this? And even if you want them, it certainly doesn't warrant an extra dollar being tagged on to the price). But at least this installment is mostly digestible. All things considered, this could have been much, much worse.